The next best thing to visiting Franklin should be visitfranklin.com.

There’s a reason so many families, celebrities and well-known businesses call Franklin and surrounding Williamson County home. Why magazines like Southern Living repeatedly rank the community among the most “charming,” “beautiful” and “quaint” in the country.  

You deserve a website that reflects that, because it’s true. Many of us are Williamson countians ourselves, and we’d love to make that happen. After all, showing off Franklin is what we do anyway.  

MP&F Strategic Communications

611 Commerce Street, CitySpace, Suite 3000
Nashville, TN 37203

Knight Stivender, Partner 
kstivender@mpf.com | 615-259-4000

Mary Elizabeth Davis, Partner  
medavis@mpf.com | 615-259-4000 

As Middle Tennessee has grown and evolved, so have we.

So have you.

Williamson County has become a new destination in the South – full of compelling opportunities, bold ideas, and fun for all ages and interests. Visit Franklin is at the nexus of all of it. Your job is to bring about positive economic growth through travel and tourism while protecting the culture that compelled it in the first place.  

 You have a big job – a holistic job done best when approached with rich storytelling and robust data. 

Our Strategy

If privileged to work for the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, we will recreate the website by:

Using a data-driven approach.

We will install analytics tracking software on the back end of the current website to study how visitors are using the site, discover where they are dropping off or getting stumped, and learn how we can best optimize for your intended audiences and the things you want them to do. Additionally, we will analyze how visitors arrive at your site – whether that’s through social media, email marketing, paid advertising, or other forms of marketing and advertising – so you can optimize your marketing efforts around getting people to the most important elements of it. We’ll also be able to tell you what actions those different segments of people are taking on your site. For example, we will be able to tell you how much traffic is coming from email and whether those visitors are using tools and downloading reports.
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Brand storytelling.

Your website needs to tell your story cohesively, not – as you say – merely present a collection of facts. You’ve already done the hard work of building Nashville into the city it is, and of setting the stage for what it will become. Our storytellers and copywriters will sit down with you, interview you, and pull from you the stories that will become your brand story. This overarching brand story will be threaded throughout the site as we reconstruct it for each key audience. It will also be used to inform art direction for photography and videography, which we will source and contract out to one of our preferred vendors.
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Emphasizing user experience.

Data will inform decisions about user experience and design, including navigation. We hypothesize from your top-line analytics that your key audiences may be having difficulty finding what they need on the existing site and are not utilizing the rich content and tools throughout the site. In designing a new site, we’ll know from our previous experiences with similar website rebuilds, as well as our conversations with you about what the new site needs, which conversion actions should be prioritized. But we will also use data-driven heat maps and analytics to guide our direction. Moreover, we will A/B-test aspects of the new site to make sure our assumptions are accurate and that people are doing what we’ve intended for them to do.
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Designing for conversion.

A key component of this rebuild will be integrating the website with the proper tools and analytics to convert visitors to newsletter subscribers, repeat visitors, members, event registrants, and active participants in programming, and to track their progress throughout the experience. Included in our work will be sourcing, recommending and implementing software integrations necessary to make the website a living, breathing tool.
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Our Strategy

If privileged to work for Visit Franklin, we will take a comprehensive and strategic approach to your website development and optimization by:

A data-driven approach.

We will continuously analyze data from your website, including user experience tracking software, to study how visitors are using the site, discover where they are dropping off or getting stumped, and learn how we can best optimize for your intended audiences and the things you want them to do. Additionally, we will analyze how visitors arrive at your site – whether that’s through social media, email marketing, paid advertising, or other forms of marketing and advertising – so you can optimize your marketing efforts around getting people to the most important elements of it. We’ll also be able to tell you what actions those different segments of people are taking on your site. For example, we will be able to tell you how much traffic is coming from email and whether those visitors are viewing events, requesting a visitor guide and more. We will make proactive content recommendations based on these insights.

Growing your brand.

Your website needs to tell your story cohesively and entice both new and returning visitors to spend time in Williamson County. You’ve already done the hard work of building Franklin and the surrounding cities into the destinations they are, and of setting the stage for what they continue to become. You’re about to launch your new website, and we’ll be there to offer brand guidance in maintaining a clear, cohesive storyline. We’ll balance the need to write technically so we optimize for search engines with the need to write more creatively to carry home your brand story.

Emphasizing user experience.

Data will inform decisions about user experience and design, including tweaks to navigation and calls-to-action. Using insights from our analytics and data-driven UX heatmaps, previous experiences with similar website optimization, as well as our conversations with you about what types of content the site needs to most effectively promote tourism and travel in Williamson County, we will prioritize conversion actions, site navigation and ongoing updates to the sitemap. Moreover, we will A/B-test aspects of the site to make sure our assumptions are accurate and that people are doing what we’ve intended for them to do.

Designing for conversion.

A key component of our work together will be integrating the website with the proper tools and analytics to optimize the newly designed site to encourage repeat visitors, drive Visitor Guide downloads and event views, sign up for the newsletter, and more while providing support for sales, Visitors Center and key partners. Included in our work will be sourcing, recommending and implementing software integrations necessary to make the website a living, breathing tool that tells the Williamson County story.

Process and Timeline

Your website should be an ever-evolving tool to help you reach your goals. Here’s how we propose tackling the website strategy and ongoing optimization and development together.

1. Discovery

Before we begin the optimizations, we will take the time to analyze your site performance and understand your needs. We may interview your team and other stakeholders. We’ll review similar sites (we’ve gotten a jump on this already) to understand what sets them – and you – apart. We will also review the results of our data analysis from the UX heatmapping software and SEO tools.
Timeline: 2–3 weeks

2. Recommendations

We believe websites should never be static. Rather, monitored daily with updates made in real time. If an opportunity for improvement (say, UX or design solutions) presents itself, we will immediately make you aware of our recommendation and quickly move into action once we have your approval.

Apart from daily optimization, we believe in the importance of a bigger-picture view with website strategy. To that end, we will develop a quarterly website audit report with recommendations for sitemap updates, user experience upgrades, SEO enhancements, additional content or features, and other considerations.

Alongside each recommendation, we will include an estimated number of hours for labor. Assuming you are in agreement, we will get to work. We will keep in mind your overall approved budget as we make recommendations.

Timeline: Recommendations made quarterly

3. Optimization

As recommendations are approved, we will make updates – ensuring that all changes are responsive across all desktop, mobile and tablet platforms, that all third-party integrations and plugins are operational, and that the user experience and interface are prioritized. We will work in a staging site so that you can review and approve changes as we progress.
Timeline: Monthly/ongoing as approved

4. Performance Analytics

We will create a live dashboard where we will measure website analytics, including UX and SEO, and monitor performance. In addition to using this to make our recommendations, we’ll share this with your team monthly so you can use it to inform content and programming decisions.
Timeline: Ongoing with monthly reports

Project Management

When you call (or text, Slack, email, Basecamp), we answer.

Meet your project manager, Annbern Holliman. She’s everything you could want in a project manager – type A, detail-oriented, communicative, creative and easy to work with.

As we begin our work together, we will determine a specific workflow (and project management software such as Trello). You’ll be able to get updates in real time on where projects stand.

Tourism isn’t a 9–5 industry. In the event that you need assistance after hours, we have a dedicated email address that is monitored by the team. Requests will be responded to within 24 hours. For long-term updates such as new page builds, adding integrations, new designs and more, we develop timelines accordingly – keeping you in the loop as we progress.

INITIAL RECOMMENDATIONS

Because we couldn’t help ourselves

  • More comprehensive site navigation to make it easier to find information and plan a trip while reducing the amount of scroll necessary on the homepage

  • Expanded functionality of events calendar to sort by city, location, date and type of event

  • Interactive map of attractions that are unique to Williamson County with the ability to break attractions down by city or region

  • FAQ section for common tourism questions, including the best time of year to visit, basic facts and history, public transportation, walkability, and more. 

Our Approach

Three reporters walk into a bar. But this is no joke.  

 It was 1987, and they were serious about finding a better way to do public relations. They agreed that the approach should be more pointed, more insightful, more interesting and more effective. One thing, and one drink, led to another, and by the end of the night a rough business plan was scribbled on a napkin. The idea for MP&F was born inside the ring left by a draft beer.  

Thirty-five years later, we are no longer a PR agency. We are a full-service strategic communications agency, whose full-time staff includes UX/UI designers, copywriters and web developers, SEO specialists, data analysts and marketing strategists, media planners and buyers, and digital advertising specialists. Many of us live or grew up in Williamson County, including the heart of Franklin. We still do plenty of great PR work. And storytelling remains at the core of everything we do.  

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Project Team

We care about your goals as much as you do and consider ourselves an extension of your team.
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Knight Stivender  |  Partner

Role on this account: Account Strategy, Digital Experience and Marketing

Wilco fun fact: Knight lives in Franklin and enjoys Harlinsdale Farm and kayaking the Harpeth.

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Mary Elizabeth Davis | Partner

Role on this account: Account Strategy, Creative

Wilco fun fact: A Nashville native who knows that the best shopping is actually in Franklin. Scarlett Scales, Winchester Antiques and Mercantile 1858 are among her go-tos.

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Tom Cocke | Copy Director

Role on this account: Copywriting

Wilco fun fact: An avid concert-goer who waits with bated breath for the Pilgrimage Fest lineup every year.

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Madi Lutz | Senior Account Executive

Role on this account: Day-to-day account management, SEO and digital experience

Wilco fun fact: Madi grew up in Spring Hill and likes nothing more than a Saturday morning at the Franklin Farmers’ Market with a spot at Landmark Booksellers.

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Greg Ellis | Senior Designer, Digital 

Role on this account: Design, SEO, UX

Wilco fun fact: Greg loves spending time on the weekends out at the new Wilkins Branch Mountain Bike Park.

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David Yunker | Front-End Web Developer 

Role on this account: Developer

Wilco fun fact: David began his journalism career in Williamson County at the former Williamson A.M. office in Cool Springs and loves spending an afternoon at Arrington Vineyards with friends.

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Annbern Holliman | Project Manager

Role on this account: Project management

Wilco fun fact: Annbern loves getting in a good workout at Studio Novo Franklin.

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Macy Krauthamer | Staff Associate 

Role on this account: Account support

Wilco fun fact: Macy discovered MP&F at the McEwen Northside job fair in Cool Springs last year. She loves spending Saturdays listening to live music at Puckett’s or Kimbro’s.

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References

United Way of Greater Nashville 

Jennifer Wright, VP Marketing, jennifer.wright@unitedwaygn.org 

Website rebuild: https://www.unitedwaygreaternashville.org/ 

Rebuild: 2020 | Maintenance and hosting: 2020–present 

Aegis Sciences 

Stephanie Protz, Marketing Director, stephanie.protz@aegislabs.com 

Website development, branding, photo and video direction: https://testingworks.com/ 

Development: 2021 | Ongoing work 

Case Studies

Log Still Distillery

Objectives: When Log Still Distillery approached us to tell their story, there wasn’t much there. Figuratively or physically. Only a dream: to revive a family bourbon business. So, we quickly stoked the coals under the still. 

Scope of work: Brand storytelling, messaging, website development, copywriting, public relations, art direction, integrated marketing, advertising, graphic design, UX/UI, social media, SEO, data/analytics, media planning, email marketing 

Success measures: Website traffic, engagement metrics, conversions, click-through rates, cost per click, media hits, social media engagement 

Results: Visits and visitors to the Log Still Distillery and Dant Crossing websites have consistently grown by double and – at times – triple digits after launch. The website won Best in Show at the Nashville Addy Awards and received a Parthenon Award from PRSA Nashville. Earned media coverage has included The New York Times, Louisville Courier-Journal, Bourbon Lens, Whiskey Wash, The Bourbon Show, the Lexington Herald Leader and more. 

View full case study

ADS Security

Objectives: Self-install, online home monitoring kits were stealing market share from our client ADS Security. Our job was to protect them by reminding consumers that there’s no substitute for live, in-person security experts who can recommend, install and monitor the right systems for homes and businesses. Especially when their safety is the end result. 

Scope of work: SEO, UX/UI, copywriting, graphic design, data/analytics, branding, advertising, email marketing, integrated marketing, media buying, public relations 

Success measures: Improvements to time on site, lower bounce rates, conversions from website funnel, lower cost per click/conversion 

Results: In less than a year, we were able to lower advertising cost per conversion by 79% on social media ads and 33% on Google search ads through platform targeting, SEO and UX optimizations, and creative testing/optimizations. 

View full case study

Budget

Pricing for the Visit Franklin website includes ongoing strategy development and optimization for the existing website, as well as quarterly reporting on results. All work for the Visit Franklin website will fall within the $85,000 budget for the fiscal year, though based on site performance our team may occasionally recommend work that exceeds that figure. (We will not execute any work outside the scoped budget without approval from you.)

After our initial immersion meeting and discovery phase, we will provide a roadmap with recommendations for updates, hours estimates and month-to-month pricing. Our initial expectation is that this work will fall between 35 and 45 hours per month with an anticipated breakdown of:

Website Strategy and Development: 15 hours
Website Administrative Support: 15 hours
Website Hosting: 1-5 hours
SEO/SEM: 10 hours

Hosting

$100/month

We host all of our WordPress websites on WP Engine. WP Engine is a dedicated WordPress server that offers state-of-the-art security, SSL certificates to help encrypt users’ data, and optimizations for maximum site speed. The server also performs daily backups and has a 99.99% uptime SLA.

MONTHLY SERVICES

  • Site health check
  • WordPress, plugins and theme updates
  • Crazy Egg tracking
  • MOZ SEO campaign tracking
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